Goddess Kaleidoscope

End of this chapter

Under Shanis's reluctant gaze, Lud confiscated the pamphlets she had "snatched" from the military camp on the spot, and warned this troublesome girl once again to stop doing such dangerous things in the future.

A very dejected Shanis lowered her head and mumbled "I know" reluctantly, but Lud knew very well that this lustful goddess had never taken his words to heart and would do it again soon.

The other party's incorrigible attitude was giving him a major headache.

Logically speaking, Shanis is now supported by Lud and the more than three thousand men, women, and children of Pine Village. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she is "well-fed and clothed." Moreover, the so-called "sexual energy" is far less potent and satisfying than the power of true faith. But Shanis just cannot resist it.

It seems that in her eyes, the power of orthodox faith is like a main course, while the energy of lust is like a snack. The former may be nutritious and healthy, but it can never compete with the allure of enjoying street-side skewers amidst the aroma of cooking!

Given Shanis's peculiar hobby, Lud once worried that the child might go astray in the future, or even corrupt the other girls in the family.

However, after spending some time together, Lude discovered that Shanis didn't so much like GHS as she enjoyed watching others' GHS, so she could draw strength from it and use other people's lust to satisfy her own appetite.

Don't be fooled by her constant lewd jokes and crude humor, which make her seem like a seasoned veteran. She even sneaks out to eavesdrop on couples crawling through haystacks. In reality, she's just like those "group members" on the other side of the world: she has a wealth of theoretical knowledge and an unimaginable level of sexuality, but her practical experience is completely lacking, and she has the desire but not the courage.

In a sense, if Shanis had gone to Earth, the most suitable way for her to live might have been as a lewd picture group owner or a "welfare girl," drawing profound spiritual power from every "shoo-shoo group owner, thanks" across the internet without any actual contact.

Clutching the confiscated pamphlets, Ludwig returned to his room. Driven by a common human curiosity, he didn't immediately destroy the three poorly printed books. Instead, he casually flipped through them with a "critical" eye.

Judging from the titles on the covers, these three books should be part of a series: "The Little Widow in the Night," "The Little Widow on a Rainy Day," and "The Little Widow on a Busy Street," giving the impression that they are determined to make trouble for widows.

Upon closer inspection, it appears that, to cater to the vast number of illiterate readers worldwide, it is not a novel but rather a picture book with a storyline, similar to a comic book.

To be fair, by world standards, the artist's skill is quite good, and the printing quality of the illustrations is very clear. It's just that the paper used is of poor quality, but this doesn't significantly affect the viewing experience.

However, Lude was an old otaku who had grown up watching Japanese anime in his previous life, and in his opinion, this art style was really hard to use as "spellcasting material." So, after looking at it for a long time, Lude remained calm and unmoved.

Turning to the very end of the album, Ludd found a signature reading "Sans" in the corner of the last page, presumably the author of the album. Ludd had also consulted the "materials" left to him by the old astrologer; the author's name not being placed on the cover or at the beginning of the volume seemed to be an old convention for this type of work.

Looking at this unfamiliar name, Lude's lips curled into a smile that hinted at confidence.

"Hmph! It's nowhere near as good as what I draw!"

Lu De casually tossed the booklets aside and was about to go to sleep when the wind chimes in the closed room suddenly started ringing.

Upon hearing this voice, Ludwig, who was about to remove his mask, quickly put his hand down and turned around to see that it was indeed his ghost secretary, Elijah, standing there.

"I'm sorry to disturb your rest, Your Excellency."

"It's alright, what can I do for you?"

"Yes, it's about that book. It suddenly stopped moving."

"Books? What books?"

Elizabeth's words startled Lud, who scratched his head and pondered for a long time before finally understanding what Elizabeth meant.

"Damn! I've been so busy lately, I completely forgot!"

Suddenly, Lude slapped his forehead. He recalled that in the basement, when he was examining the Book of Ashes, he discovered that the two-dimensional serpent sealed inside had recovered, but was still unruly and dared to swear at him. So, in a fit of madness, Lude sprinkled sulfur powder on the pages of the book and then stuffed the serpent and the book back into the cabinet.

Ludd's initial thought was to lock the girl up for a week to show her who was in charge, but he got busy with other things and completely forgot about it. Meanwhile, the serious Elijah remembered Ludd's instructions—"Notify me when she behaves."

So from then on, the female ghost secretary would open the box containing the book every day to check on it, and if it was still struggling, she would keep it locked. She persisted like this for almost half a month until today, when finally, the book stopped moving!

Realizing that the snake might be dead, Lude hurriedly followed Elijah to the basement. When they opened the box containing the books, they found it motionless, and the smell of sulfur powder was still very pungent.

Lude carefully took the book out, turned it upside down to shake off all the powder stuck between the pages, and then carefully turned it over.

"I go……"

Even though Ludwig was mentally prepared, he was still startled by the image on the page. The once lifelike snake was gone, replaced by a bluish-gray stain, giving the impression that the ink had all smudged because the page had been soaked in water.

Seeing this, Elijah timidly asked.

"Master, is she...is she alright?"

"He should... still be alive."

The condition of the pages was somewhat unexpected for Lud. He tried to touch the stains on the pages with his hand and could clearly feel the vitality, which meant that the giant snake was still alive, but its mental state was a bit "dissipated".

Since this book was written by Lud in order to fool the lizardmen, several months have passed and even he himself can't remember what he wrote. Helpless, he can only flip back to see if he can find the reason.

Soon, Ludwig found the possible cause of this phenomenon in the chapter on "physical reconstruction".

When Lu De wrote the book, he never imagined it would become a reality, so out of a playful spirit, he referenced many game memes. Besides the Great Demon Miyazaki Hidetaka and the Pokédex, it naturally included the character creation system loved by many players.

Subsequent events proved that Lud had severely underestimated the lizardman tribe, whose members were almost all fanatical believers. Furthermore, the Book of Ashes, being his creation, was to some extent influenced by the Primal Flame. This wasn't immediately apparent when the book was first written, but once it reached the lizardmen, imbued with their abundant faith, it instantly became incredibly powerful!

This incident gave Rudd a great deal of insight. He realized that it was not necessary to create a god first and then have the god create the artifacts. As long as the corresponding conditions were met, the two steps could be reversed without any problem.

Once the Book of Ashes becomes a genuine artifact, then in addition to the power of the lizardmen's faith, sacrificial rituals can also nourish the artifact, helping it to grow further and even evolve.

Once you understand this reason, it's not hard to understand why the Book of Ashes is so powerful... Who knows how many sacrifices those lizardmen offered to this book! The Serpent Spirit, one of the victims, was a monster lord on par with the dragons.

According to the description in the chapter "Reshaping the Body", the great demon "Hidetaka Miyazaki" is kind and generous to truly devout believers. Complete devotion and obedience can be exchanged for a new life, transforming oneself into the ideal form.

To put it simply, as long as players spend enough money, they can get a chance to create a new character.

Based on this premise, Ludl speculated that the giant serpent's spirit had been completely subdued by the sulfur powder, reaching the state of complete obedience required to reshape her physical body. However, due to the sealed artifact in the book, she had no right to choose her new form.

If Ludd's prediction is correct, then things will be much easier.

"Eleven, get me a paintbrush."

End of this chapter

Before she knew it, Romian had been at the temple for almost half a year. She loved her simple yet fulfilling life. She had the knowledgeable and respected mentor Lude by her side, two kind and approachable senior sisters, and the guard siblings who took good care of her. They gave Romian, who had no relatives or friends, a sense of family.

Every morning, Romian is always the first person to get up in the temple. Her excellent biological clock allows her to open her eyes precisely on time, even without an alarm clock, and then quickly get up and start doing her work.

Without exaggeration, Romian was undoubtedly the most conscientious nun in the entire temple. She got up almost an hour earlier than everyone else every day, and the first thing she did was to kneel in front of the two statues in the hall and pray, and then she would start cleaning and making breakfast for her master and fellow nuns.

He was always diligent and conscientious, and never complained.

As usual, after finishing her prayers, Romian prepared to go to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone. But as she passed the cellar door, she ran into Rudd, who was yawning as he came out. The mentor looked exhausted, a picture of someone who had overdone his cultivation.

"Professor, did you stay up all night?"

"Hmm? It's Luo Mi'an! I haven't slept all night and was just about to go back and catch up on some sleep. Tell your two senior sisters that I definitely won't wake up before noon, and if anyone comes looking for me, tell them I'm not feeling well and to come back in the afternoon."

"Then... you haven't had a meal yet, have you? My mother said that it's bad for your health to go to bed on an empty stomach. Professor, you should have breakfast before you go to sleep. I'll make it for you right away!"

As Romian spoke, she smiled and pushed Lud to the dining room, then busied herself preparing food for Lud.

Watching Longmei busy in the kitchen, Lu De couldn't help but sigh inwardly. When this girl gets married, her husband will definitely be a scoundrel who saved the world in his past life!

In most religious sects around the world, members are allowed to marry, so Lud had no intention of setting up a monastery and becoming its abbot.

Romianne is not yet fourteen years old. Although she is a half-dragon, she is definitely a beautiful girl who meets the general human aesthetic standards and has a promising future. In addition, she has a good personality and is virtuous. Marrying her would definitely bring happiness in every sense of the word.

Soon, the kitchen was filled with the aroma of food, and attracted by the smell, the others in the temple got up and came to the dining hall.

However, what Lude wanted to complain about was that, apart from himself and Romian who was cooking, everyone in the dining room, including the baby dragon being held in Aina's arms, was someone who theoretically didn't need to eat ordinary food at all, but they were all incredibly big eaters, with an astonishing amount of food.

Just then, Shanis brought over a scale from the side. Seeing this, Aina immediately placed the baby dragon Kanna, whom she was holding, onto the scale. The little one was already used to this daily routine of "growth observation," so she lay quietly on the scale, her big golden eyes even showing a hint of anticipation.

"It's still just over four kilograms, it hasn't grown at all!"

"My body shape hasn't changed much either."

Upon hearing that her body had not grown at all, the young dragon let out a disappointed cry and pounded on the metal scale with her little claws until Lude took out a "faith candy" and fed it to her, which calmed her down.

Counting the days, Kanna has been alive for almost nine months since she hatched, but her size is still about the same as a half-grown kitten. She eats more food in a day than she weighs herself, but she doesn't gain a single gram of weight.

Meanwhile, her two black dragon brothers, Brown and Brahmoth, who hatched only a week earlier, had grown much larger than adult humans when Ludwig visited Nidhogg last month. They were already able to fly out and catch small animals to eat.

Lud thought to himself, thankfully this little guy is just short in stature, but always full of energy, otherwise, given Nidhogg's irritable and doting fatherly temper, he would definitely misunderstand that he was abusing his precious daughter.

But to be fair, it's not so bad that the little guy doesn't grow up. At his current size, he's perfect for being held in my arms and rubbed to my heart's content!

After finishing breakfast, Lud felt increasingly sleepy and decided to go back to his room to recover. Although he had a fatigue-relieving potion on hand, which would instantly restore his energy, Lud still chose to sleep, because fatigue, this negative effect, often wasn't just a physical symptom.

Back in his room, Lud fell asleep immediately. One good thing about the eighteen-year-old was his outstanding recovery ability. With the double blessing of the Primal Fire and the Chosen One, he only slept for five hours before the fatigue from staying up all night was completely gone.

However, when Lu De woke up and went to the backyard to sunbathe, he saw a scene that he, as a (former) police officer, could not tolerate.

"Come here, don't be so shy, let Grandpa see if you're developing normally!"

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Lud shouted, startling Hamilton, the Fire Saint who was trying to lure the baby dragon with a small piece of jerky. Hamilton jumped in fright, dropping the jerky. Kanna, who had almost taken the bait, immediately grabbed the jerky, flew over to Lud, perched on his shoulder, and started munching on it.

This little thing has a very big appetite and an exceptionally strong curiosity. It will put anything in its mouth and will try anything it doesn't recognize.

Lude reached out and pinched Kanna's furry cheek, then looked at the uninvited great magician with a stern face.

"I'll give you a chance to explain."

"Don't get me wrong, old friend. I don't have any ulterior motives. I'm just curious about this little guy, I don't know what kind he is. I've met his parents. I know I can't afford to mess with them, but if I remember correctly, they should both be pure-blooded black dragons, right? How come their child has such a strange appearance, and... it seems like he won't grow up."

As a witness to last year's events and a learned, orthodox archmage, Hamilton's understanding of dragons far surpasses that of ordinary people.

The old man still doesn't know what exactly happened to Ludwig during the two weeks Nidhogg took him away last winter, but he knows that Ludwig not only returned unharmed, but he wasn't alone either. The extremely rare black dragon couple even entrusted one of their children to Ludwig's care.

Hamilton didn't consider himself an ungrateful person. If Ludd hadn't stepped forward, he and the thousands of villagers of Pine Village probably wouldn't be alive today; it was undoubtedly a life-saving grace. Therefore, he kept his promise and didn't tell anyone about the baby dragon with Ludd.

However, it was, after all, a young dragon, and a rare species that Hamilton had never seen or heard of before. Therefore, it held an irresistible allure for any magician thirsting for knowledge.

So during his time back home, Hamilton consulted a lot of information related to dragons, and finally found some potentially useful information in an ancient book whose age could not be verified.

Looking at the adorable baby dragon perched on Ludwig's shoulder, Hamilton asked with a smile.

"Old buddy, what do you usually feed this little one?"

"This little thing eats almost anything, why are you asking this?"

"It's nothing, it's just... I bet you're worried about this little guy eating so much but not growing tall, right?"

"..."

Looking at Ludd's expression, Hamilton knew he had guessed correctly, so he silently recited a passage he had read in an ancient book.

"There once existed a truly peculiar dragon in history. He was not a hybrid dragon, yet he possessed an extraordinary appearance, unlike any other dragon. He was over a thousand meters long, had six pairs of golden wings, and a divine halo above his head. He stood atop a towering mountain peak, like an ever-shining sun illuminating the earth. When he took flight, the shadows cast by his wings were so intense they seemed to blot out the sky, as if night had fallen. This colossal dragon was named Aomia, a dragon raised by the gods!"

End of this chapter